Islamic Cleric Can Be Extradited to U.S. to Face Terror Case

Abu Hamza al-Masri, the Islamic cleric suspected of having ties to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda organization, lost a last-ditch bid to have a U.K. court delay his extradition to the U.S., ending more than eight years of legal wrangling. Photographer: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Abu Hamza al-Masri, the Islamic
cleric suspected of having ties to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda
organization, lost a last-ditch bid to have a U.K. court delay
his extradition to the U.S., ending more than eight years of
legal wrangling.

Two judges rejected Abu Hamza’s appeal to delay the
extradition on medical grounds at a hearing in London today and
the Islamic cleric could be on a plane to the U.S. within hours.

If the condition “is treatable, then it can be treated in
the United States,” Judge John Thomas said in a ruling today.
“The sooner he stands trial the better.”

Abu Hamza is alleged by U.S authorities in an 11-count
indictment filed in April 2004 that he supported the Taliban in
Afghanistan with money and troops, and aided a kidnapping in
Yemen in 1998 that left four hostages dead. Federal prosecutors
in New York also allege that he attempted to set up a terrorist
training camp from 1999 to 2000 in Bly, Oregon.

Born in Egypt, and granted British citizenship in 1986, the
54-year-old Abu Hamza is known for the hook-shaped prosthetic he
wears in place of his hand. A civil rights group said courts
have ignored that all the alleged offenses occurred in the U.K.

“This is yet another example of the dangers of our
flawed extradition arrangements,” Emma Norton, legal officer
for Liberty. “Isn’t British justice -- so admired around the
world -- capable of dealing with crimes committed in the U.K. by
its own citizens?”

Other Men

Four other men, Babar Ahmad, Syed Ahsan, Khalid Al-Fawwaz
and Adel Bary, were also denied their bids to block being sent
to the U.S. by the court today. Thomas said the ruling can’t be
appealed.

The U.K. Home Office said after the ruling that it was
“working to extradite these men as quickly as possible.”

Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney
Preet Bharara, whose office is prosecuting the Abu Hamza case,
declined to comment on the ruling. The hostage-taking charges
could carry the death penalty or life in prison, then U.S.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said at a news conference when
the case was first announced in 2004.

“These extraditions mark the end of a lengthy process of
litigation through the U.K. courts” and the European Court of
Human Rights, the U.S. Embassy in London said in a statement.
“The law enforcement relationship between the United States and
United Kingdom is predicated on trust, respect, and the common
goals of protecting our nations and eliminating safe havens for
criminals, including terrorists.”

1997 Sermons

Abu Hamza, who the U.S. identifies as Mustafa Kamel
Mustafa, was originally sentenced by a U.K. court in 2006 to
seven years in prison for encouraging his followers to kill Jews
and other non-Muslims in sermons between 1997 and 2000.

Babar Ahmad, accused in the U.S. of running terrorist-funding websites, said the ruling ends his more than eight-year-long fight against extradition.

“By exposing the fallacy of the U.K.’s extradition
arrangements with the U.S., I leave with my head held high
having won the moral victory,” Ahmad said.

Abu Hamza has sought to block his extradition for years
through a series of court cases that seemed to conclude last
month with a ruling by the Human Rights court refusing to
consider claims by the cleric and the other men that U.S. prison
conditions would be inhumane.

Prevent Extradition

“Each of the applicants has taken every conceivable point
to prevent his extradition to the U.S.,” Judge Thomas said in
court.

U.K. officials vowed to speed up the extradition after the
ruling from the Strasbourg, France-based Human Rights court, but
Abu Hamza’s lawyers asked the High Court in London to delay the
proceedings for medical tests. Lawyers argued that Abu Hamza’s
health had deteriorated after years of incarceration in a U.K.
high-security prison.

“We concluded that if Abu Hamza might be unfit to plead,
because of sleep deprivation and physical conditions at HMP
Belmarsh, then this condition being treatable could be treated
in the United States,” Judge Thomas said. “If any potential
unfitness to plead was emerging from a degenerative condition of
the brain, the court concluded that the sooner he is put on
trial the better.”